September 23rd 2016

Fredrik Backman’s book, A Man Called Ove, is funny! But beyond amusing, Backman expresses emotions in ways that are unique, inventive, rare, raw and piercing. The depth of his savvy impresses me as I read, having tried so many times to express the utter misery I experienced when everything I put into Starboard at Midnight was stolen and turned inside out. Believing Backman won’t mind, I quote his sentences here: “And she wept. An ancient, inconsolable despair that screamed and tore and shredded them both as the hours passed. Time and sorrow and fury flowed together in stark, long-drawn darkness. Ove knew that he would never forgive himself. . . and that his pain was forever.” . . . I knew when I read Titanic the Tennis Story that I had made a grave mistake to trust in the rightness of the world as I brought my grandfather’s life to light. Because now, and then, he is and was–portrayed in a sham book at Barnes and Noble stores–drawn in a dim shadow, misquoted, misrepresented, and ridiculed. Set up by sensationalists to be learned about incorrectly by young minds across the country who read, or would in the future read the WRONG story. My sister’s words have rung in my ears ever since: “What did you expect?” There is no means now; no way for me to apologize to my grandfather. No avenue to make things right in the end. Maybe after I die? Maybe then? I want to tell him how sorry I am. I need him to try to forgive me. Maybe he’d look at me with a smile and make me laugh and say that a man’s reputation means very little after all. But I witness monuments and masterpieces, manifestos and manifestations, and I find it impossible to believe that! Don’t you?! Five years have done nothing to ease the misery of this. I just go on.

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Notable Reviews for Starboard at Midnight

“When hundreds died and you should have gone with them, it is difficult to cope with such pressure. Starboard at Midnight tells the story of Karl H. Behr, a German American who survived the tragedy of the Titanic. Famed as a rising tennis star, he joined activism with former President Theodore Roosevelt in his own way of facing survivor's guilt. Starboard at Midnight is a moving bit of biography and history, very highly recommended reading.”—Midwest Book Review

“...a literary treat in the rising tide of books about the century-old disaster.... Amid the hubbub of glossy pictorials, in-depth chronicles, and pure junk has emerged an intimate literary gem, Starboard at Midnight, a novelized treatment of the lives of Titanic survivors Karl Behr and Helen Newsom.... With all the drama and intrigue that charges a spy thriller, and punctuated by bursts of eloquent prose, Sanford's well-woven tale fleshes out the grandmother she cherished and reclaims an elusive grandfather she never knew but felt compelled to discover. The romance of Behr and Newsom is familiar to Titanic aficionados, but its retelling from such close quarters offers fresh nuance.... The book’s 38 illustrations are in themsevles worth its purchase price.” (Read More)—Randy Bryan Bigham, Encyclopedia Titanica

ESPN and Karl Behr

This (6) minute video, presented by ESPN as a segment for the US Open in 1998, features Tennis Hall of Famers: Karl Behr and Dick Williams. Both passengers on the Titanic.
Like the 1914 tennis match they are seen playing in at the beginning, the video volleys back and forth between Dick’s family with their explanations about Dick’s Harvard connections, his near disastrous fate, and Karl’s son and granddaughter, Lynn Sanford, who reads from Karl’s memoir.

Lynn Sanford wants her viewers to know that she does not in any way endorse the inaccurate Titanic the Tennis Story, which may advertise at the end of this video and often with Starboard at Midnight on Amazon.com.Thank you.